9 months and very mobile

I can't believe how much older Luke has looked just recently. He had his 9 month visit on Thursday and was 23 pounds, 7 ounces. He gives me a workout every time I carry him. Rafa and I love his smile so much.

At 8 months, 1 week Luke just decided that he could crawl. He skipped army crawling and went straight to regular crawling. However, the last 2 weeks he can't get enough of pulling himself up. That is all he wants to do all day, pull up on everything.

We took him to the waterfall for the first time and let him play with the rocks. Now he will be ready for Washington and the river Mom. :)

Studying the rocks and water.

With Daddy.

Crawling and exploring the park we took him to.

Yesterday was my niece Mari's party. She had a pink theme and afterwards we all went to the Mayan to eat and watch the divers. Luke and his cousin Tyson had fun wrestling each other. Oh, will we have fun times to come when they get older.

Luke with his Uncle Mike.

Luke with Grandpa Kingsley. He wasn't sad, just serious. He likes sitting and cuddling with his Grandpa.

Rafa's first marathon!!!

I can't believe that my husband has done a marathon! What an accomplishment. He worked really hard to get prepared for it and it has motivated me. I don't think a marathon is in the near future, but I am going to do a few 5k's this summer, and maybe even a 10k.

The whole family came out to support Rafa at the finish line. They helped me with Luke (thanks), and sat by the fountains to wait. It was a pretty warm day for April in Utah.


One of Rafa's friends from church, and also a running friend, Munro, came to see him at the finish line. We joke that his beautiful daughter could be Luke's future girlfriend.

Rafa got to carry Luke across the finish line.

Our little boy is growing up!

I feel like Luke is changing every day! Isn't this picture with Daddy just precious!


Luke had his first date with Mel Lewis. We shared a yummy dinner at the Spaghetti Factory.

Here I am with Mel, my good friend from work.

Luke looks pretty good in his Winter hat, and jacket that Grandma made for him.

About 3 weeks ago Luke just decided that he could sit up. This makes life a lot easier for us because he can play for longer and not be frustrated laying down all the time. He can sit up for so long. However, sometimes he decides that he is tired of sitting up and will fall down hard, so we have the pillow behind him so he doesn't hit his head.

Doesn't this face just make your heart melt?

Here is Luke in all his chubby glory! He is 6 and 1/2 months old and a wopping 21 pounds! Notice how he lifts his head off the ground whenever he is laying down. He loves doing his crunches.

The other night Luke fell asleep in his little umbrella stroller. I just had to take a picture! Rafa was watching the Superbowl with his friends and pushing Luke around and didn't even know that Luke was sleeping. Luke was happy that the Saints won, even though he wasn't awake to see the end of the game.

This picture is from December when he first decided that he liked sleeping on his tummy. His little butt was up in the air-it was so cute.

Our little nerdy boy, look out when he gets older!

Rafa captured these precious pictures a couple of weeks ago. We don't know yet if they are a glimpse into the future, but I guess we will just have to wait and see.


Side Note: He is sitting in his new jogging stroller, which he loves. However, he can only be in it inside because it is still too cold here in Utah to run outside with a baby. I can't wait until Spring!

Family Pictures

My family got together and went to Gardner's Village the week after Christmas to take family pictures. The formal ones are done, but I have not posted them yet. These are just some informal ones that Rafa took during that day. I'll post the other ones when I get them.

In this picture we have all the Grand kids. Mari did a good job holding Luke but he still got confused and didn't know what was going on, thus the serious face in all of the pictures. I love how Tyson is so happy in all the pictures.

Here is another view of the same setting, but Luke is starting to slip. They were all sitting on a sled, it was so cute!

We just had to get this adorable picture of Luke on the cart.

This picture is for my Mom. She bought this pullover jacket and sewed on the dinosaurs. Luke looks so cute in it!

Luke's First Christmas

Christmas was a busy time for us because my parents were in town and we wanted to spend as much time with them as we could. Luke was 5 months old on December 22. I think he enjoyed all the time we got to spend with family.


We got Luke a pair of Christmas p.j.'s with a cute hat. Here he is with Daddy in our Living room Christmas day. Both Dad and Luke got a Boston Red Sox hat for Christmas.

Luke also got a doggy toy for Christmas. It has a lot of tags and fun things for him to grab on to.

One of my Sixth Grade students made this stocking for Luke. I told her it was so big that Luke would fit in it, so I had to take a picture to show her.

By the end of the day Luke was very tired and he sure let us know how he felt.


Earlier in the day he was sleeping peacefully. You've gotta love those cheeks.

Here I am with my Mom and niece Mari.

Luke loves his Grandpa Kingsley. He is always happy in his arms.

Lots to be Thankful for

I wanted to record some of my many blessings in this blog. Thanks for the inspiration Mom! I am thankful for...
1) My first Thanksgiving as a family with Luke.


2) That I have a big, healthy baby that likes to eat. He doesn't look so happy here, but he actually had a good time trying to eat his rice cereal for the first time. More got on his face than down his throat, but he seemed curious about it, so we are going to keep trying a little every day.

4 month check-up stats from Nov. 23. He weighs 17 pounds, which is the 85 percentile. The doctor said he looks healthy, which is such a blessing because I am a teacher and so I work with kids every day. I have already had 2 students out with the swine flu. So, I take care to be extra careful so Luke won't get sick. I have my students clean the room so much more than in years past, and now I have them use clorox wipes to disinfect the door handles and sink. We have a very clean smelling classroom. :)

3) Having a job that I love (which has taught me soooo much about kids in the pre-teen years, that I hope it will make me a better Mom for Luke when he gets to be that age)

3) To continue the health theme: I am grateful that I have not become sick at all. It is such a blessing, and neither has Rafa.

4) Having a happy baby is so nice. Luke loves to talk baby talk to us and play with us. I love the stage he is at right now.


5) He likes to be on his tummy more now and roll over.

6) He is sleeping so much better! But he still has his hard nights, I can't wait until he can do 10-12 hours a night, what a dream that would be.



7) He can entertain himself so much better now. He likes to grab his feet and...


suck his fingers all the time. :) We have to have a bib on him all the time now to catch the drool.

8) He likes the baby carrier---finally! He used to hate it. Now I can get more done around the house.


9) He can play in his Jumperoo for about 15 minutes before getting bored! Yay!


10) Having a son that makes me laugh even when I am so tired that I can't think.

11) Having a warm, clean house to live in.

12) Knowing my extended family is safe and healthy.


13) Celebrating every holiday like it is the first time because we have Luke now. He was a skeleton for Halloween, and glowed in the dark. We will do a more extravagant costume next year, but he was so little this year we decided to go simple.

14) Oh, and the best blessing I have in my life right now is my husband! He is heaven sent. He sacrifices his sleep so I can have more. He helps me with cleaning everything. He still cooks me fabulous food. And he is the best daddy to Luke, he knows how to comfort him and put him to sleep just as well as I do. I seriously couldn't have survived these fist four months without him.